Mentoring Future Leaders

Mentoring Future Leaders
Behaviours that can damage relationships …
1. Asking prying questions to satisfy your own curiosity.
2. Asking “why” questions indiscriminately – which can sound like
an interrogation and tend to put people on the defensive, or make
them feel as if they have to justify their actions.
3. Asking leading questions – for example: ‘Wouldn’t you agree
that your behaviour was …?’
4. Making judgements – for example: ‘Surely with your vast
experience, you could have …’, ‘Obviously, you could have …’
Listen to yourself when you hear yourself saying ‘surely’ or
‘obviously’. These two words are often used to pass judgement.
5. Giving uncalled for advice – for example: ‘If I were you,
I would …’, ‘What you should do is …’
Discussion
1. What are the “not-negotiables” in a mentor-mentee relationship?
2. If different protégés prefer different mentoring styles, how can
you accommodate everybody? What are the limits of your
flexibility?
3. To what extent can you/are you willing to adapt your own style to
© Learning meet Link the International
 needs of a particular protégé?
March 2005
Module 3 - Building Trusting
Relationships
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